Government urges Ford to consult workers over plans to close Jaguar plant

The
Prime Minister Tony Blair and chancellor
Gordon Brown have called on Ford to have further talks with workers over plans
to halt Jaguar production at its Brown’s Lane plant in Coventry.

Blair
also agreed to personally express his concerns to the company at the
"highest level", according to unions..

Ford,
Jaguar’s parent company, is to switch production to Castle Bromwich, with the
loss of more than 1,000 jobs.

Union
leaders said the intervention was "vital" to their efforts to save
the jobs at the plant.

"[Blair
and Brown’s] response to our case has been extremely positive," the
Transport and General Workers Union, Amicus and the GMB said. "The
Government has recognised that a breakdown of trust between Ford and its
workforce could be very damaging."

Ford
said heavy losses made the move necessary and stressed that all redundancies
would be voluntary, with generous packages.

The
company’s plans will see car production stop at Brown’s Lane, with 400 voluntary
redundancies and 425 jobs moved to the Castle Bromwich factory.

Jaguar
will also lose 750 mostly white-collar staff as back-office work is merged with
Land Rover.